Painful Moments
by SCandCK1899
Summary: [Emily's ff]Chancey and Shoesie go away for a month to see Chancey's cousin in Boston. When they came back, Chancey went to go see the love of her life that was soon torn appart from her by a crazy girl and a small kiss. last in the series Hurtful Love


**Chapter 1-Telling the Boys**

I walked over to Jack with Shoesie following my every step. Jack looked at me and I looked back. I had just got received word that my cousin in Boston wanted to see me because she just wanted to see me and hang out and I was going to go to Boston the next day. I knew I had to tell Jack. I also knew it wasn't going to be easy telling him, but I should tell him. I don't want him to wake up the next morning and find that I'm not there. That wouldn't be very nice for him. He would think I deserted him or I was kidnapped. I can see him putting up "lost girlfriend" signs and when I came back, they would be posted all over town. "I'm goin ta visit me cousin's place for a month. I 'aven't seen 'er in foreva an' I'm sure she'll be glad ta see me. Shoesie's goin ta go along too. She lives in Boston. I'll miss youse so much and I will miss da sweet smell of papes," I said to him. His smile went from a great smile to a weak one once I started talking.

"When are youse leaving?" he asked as a tear rushed down his face and then another followed it even faster.

"Tomorrow mornin, but we'll be back before youse knows it," I answered trying to cheer him up because seeing him crying made me feel like crying a little bit too.

"I will go wit youse," Jack said looking at Shoesie and then back at me as another tear came down his face.

"No," I said, "da newsies need youse 'ere and I will only be gone a month. Me and Shoesie will go to see my cousin and be back when we can and dat is in a month from now. We promise," I said and then looked at Shoesie.

"Ok. We betta go ta Brooklyn and tell Spot before youse leave," he said and started walking towards the stairs.

"Yeah," Shoesie said and she followed him down the stairs. I followed her and we headed for the Brooklyn bridge. For most of the walk over the bridge, Jack just watched his feet and he almost ran into a few people.

When we got to Brooklyn, there were a lot of newsies diving into the river and climbing back out to go back in. I wanted to dive in, but I had my clothes on so it wouldn't work. Jack wiped the tears off his face and put on his normal face. We finally came upon Spot up on his post looking out into the river like a lifeguard.

"Youse the new lifeguard?" I asked and he looked down. He smiled at Shoesie and then looked at me and flashed a corny grin.

"Of course….it is a fun job seeing how I can't swim worth a crap!" he said. I laughed because I knew he couldn't swim the best. He started to climb down. He jumped right in front of me and I gave him a spit handshake. "Youse would be a betta one," he looked at me and smiled.

"Naturally," I said and smiled back at him, "because youse would think a swimma would be a life guard….not a "ruler" such as youse-self." Spot laughed.

Jack did the handshake and said, "hey Spot. Wat up?"

"Nothin really," Spot said back and went over to Shoesie. After he did, me and Jack decided to tell Spot what we were doing.

"Spot," I began to talk very slowly so Spot interrupted me.

"Yes….that would be my name… Wats up?" he asked with a chuckle and a "I always knew youse knew my name!" look on his face.

"Tomorrow, me and Shoesie are goin to see me cousin in Boston for a month and we are gonna miss youse guys so much and we will think of youse a lot I'm sure," I said as a tear came down my face. Spot stopped chuckling and put on his regular face as he spoke.

"I see," he said, "I will miss youse guys." He turned to Shoesie and gave her a hug and wouldn't let go for a little while. He stopped hugging her and she spoke.

"Come to the train station and we will say goodbye. 8 in the mornin and don't be late. We 'ave to get goin right then. We don't wanna miss our train," Shoesie said and hugged him again.

"Ok," he said, "I will be dare….youse can count on me. I will meet youse at da papes place in Manhattan Jack."

"Ok," Jack replied.

**Chapter 2-Saying Goodbye**

It was 8 and me and Shoesie had to be getting on our train. We watched for Spot and Jack, but finally we had to just go. "Wait!" We turned around and saw Spot and Jack running up to us with big grins on their faces. "Hold everythin," Jack yelled and I laughed. Spot went up to Shoesie. I went over to Jack and put down my stuff. I went into his arms.

"Do I gets a goodbye kiss?" he asked giving me his award winning grin. He put on his begging face and I rolled my eyes. He felt offended and started to walk off.

"Of course," I said and he turned around and he gave me his award winning grin once again. I once again rolled my eyes at him and then kissed him. Spot copied our idea and started kissing Shoesie. I went over to Shoesie and Spot walked over to Jack.

"Youse guys 'ave fun and don't miss us too much," Jack said looking at both of us shreading a tear or two.

"Same goes for youse two," Shoesie said looking them both. They both had tears rolling down their faces now. I walked over to Jack and wiped the tears off his face.

"We will be fine. Don't worry an' 'ave some fun while we are gone," I said to Jack. I gave him another goodbye kiss on the cheek and I walked over to Shoesie. We gave our boys one more hug and then grabbed our stuff.

It was time for us to leave and we had to get on the train and put our bags in a storage area. When we got on, we put our stuff away, looked out the window and waved to our boys. The train started to move and we waved until we could no longer see them. I looked at Shoesie and I tear streamed down her face. One streamed down my face too and she looked at me. "Youse are gonna like me cousin. She is so nice and she has a nice house," I said to her trying to cheer her up.

"I'm sure I will," Shoesie said and smiled at me. "If she is anything like youse….I will love 'er for an eternity." I laughed and Sheosie just smiled.

"She is a lot like me. Before, when I had me parents, when I was about 3 or 4, me and me cousin would always play around and break things and stuff. That was when I lived in Boston too. We even 'ad guyfriends who would get us into more trouble den we were already in. It was fun to hang wit me cousin. She has a brodda too and he was pretty fun, but he is like 22 now and he moved wit his wife to I believe Massachusetts. We miss him a lot and I heard this from me cousin not one year ago. When we moved to Manhattan, she stayed in Boston, and I have only seen 'er one time since…..when her mom died of a lung disease," I explained pretty much my life before I moved to Manhattan and of course you know it all change when I moved there.

"Dat's cool," she said, "an' I am sorry 'bout youse aunt. Did dat happen while I was at Brooklyn?"

"Yeah…..when I was 'bout 13 or 14 I went to 'er funeral," I said shreadin yet another tear.

"I see. Did Jack go wit youse," she asked. We rarely talked about while Shoesie was at Brooklyn. We would always say "when youse were at Brooklyn" or "when I was at Brooklyn" and that would be the end of that part of the conversation.

"Yeah. He knows me cousin and he likes 'er a lot. He said she reminded 'im of me," I said and thought of when they first met.

"That's cool day 'ave met before," she said.

"Yeah," I said, "a lot of me relatives were at da funeral. Ones I 'aven't seen since I was a little baby. I ask a few wat 'appened to me mom, dad, and olda brodda, but no one would tell me. If I could I would try to locate me brodda because he is only 20 right now and if I could find him, I could meet him again and maybe find my parents again. I miss Kalel a lot. I don't have money for it though. Me life is a mystery no one will probably neva solve." I looked down.

"It is fine. As long as we are friends, we are family and I will help youse find Kalel. It is an out of the ordinary name and I am sure we could track him down," she said. I smiled and gave her a hug. She smiled back at me and we leaned on each other because we were both very tired.

We looked out the window again and watched the trees go by and every once and awhile look back at each other. After awhile Shoesie fell asleep and was leaning on me. I thought "I should have let Jack come….he would have liked to see me cousin again since she reminds him so much of me…..'Only in a richer house and clothes' (Jack's exact words when he saw my cousin). I love youse funny attitude Jack….and I truly wish I didn't say no to youse in da first place," but as I was thinking that, I never would have guessed that something life changing was happening to Jack. The strike.

**Chapter 3-Cousin Daniela**

We stepped off the train carrying our things and looked around to see if we could see my cousin. I stretched a little because I had been sitting down for about 3 hours and I was stiff. It was a little chilly out because it was turning into fall, but I just dealt with it and kept on stretching. I noticed that Shoesie was cold too and I chuckled a little. "She still isn't used to being a street goil," I thought, "street goils are always cold at this time a year." I chuckled again and went back to stretching. "Dani…is that you?" I looked behind me to see my cousin staring back at me. She had her long blonde hair in a pony tail and was wearing a light pink shirt and light brown pants. She was standing next to a horse and buggy and was looking right at me with her pale blue eyes. Behind her stood an unexpected surprise. I started to study the face of Daniela's older brother, Jase. He didn't look much different except he was taller. He had long, curly dark brown hair and had his normal everyday wardrobe on. He was also staring at me with his bright green eyes. I smiled at them and started to walk towards them. Shoesie followed me.

"Dani!" I said and ran over to her and hugged her. "Dani…I am so happy to see youse." I stepped over to Jase, "Hey man….I was expecting youse 'er…..it is great to see youse." I gave him a hug and then went back over to Shoesie. "Dis is Shoesie……me best friend and sellin partna." Dani shook her hand and Shoesie smiled (she was glad that she didn't have to give her a spit handshake). She also shook hands with Jase.

"Nice to me you," he said and tipped his head. Shoesie smiled a fake grin.

"Shoesie isn't your real name is it?" Dani asked very curiously.

"No it isn't," I said, "but all newsies 'ave a newsie name. Youse now mine is Chancey," I explained and Dani nodded.

"Oh right. What is your real name then?" she asked Shoesie looking at her.

"I would rather not say. No offense," Shoesie said and looked at me and then looked back at Dani.

"Oh that is all right," Dani said, "come on. Lets go to my house and get ready for supper."

"Yeah," Jase said, "maybe we could catch up on old times after supper and cause some trouble." I smiled.

"You would think you would be off that by now Jase! Your 22 years old and married!" Dani said and I stopped smile and giggled.

"My wife isn't here. Are you off that yet Dani?" he asked her.

"Of course not," she said and gave him a grin and chuckled.

"Then why not?" he asked. Dani started to laugh and we all joined her.

"Ok," she said, "for old times sake." I gave Jase a high five and then picked up my stuff while still laughing. We put our stuff in the carriage and walked in. Shoesie was sitting and looking all around the carriage enjoying it because she had never been in one before. I just smiled and had fun on the ride.

When we got to there house, Shoesie stepped in and dropped her stuff. "Youse's house is beautiful," she said and looked around.

"Thanks. We like it too," Dani said and started to explain where everything was like the bathroom and the kitchen. "You two will be sleeping in the bedroom up the stairs and the first door on your right. You can go and put your stuff in it now."

"I will show you where it is," Jase said. Once he was done talking, we grabbed our stuff and walked up the stairs behind Jase.

Jase opened the door to our room and Shoesie once again dropped her stuff. The room had two made beds with a bathroom and two dressers. It had three big windows with curtains streaming down it and all the room you could ever want. I walked in and put my stuff down. Shoesie jumped on one of the beds and laid there looking up at the ceiling.

"I could get used to dis like I had before I became a newsie," she said and looked at me. I just laughed and so did Jase because he was still standing at the door.

"Well…get comfy and supper is going to be at 6…..don't be late," Jase said and closed the door. He walked away to his own room down the hallway.

"Yeah…thanks," I said and turned towards Shoesie. "I could get used to it too. Dani may live a fancy life, but she is a regular goil just like youse and me. Jase is a regular "man" too. He does everything with us and always blames us for any stuff that gets trashed. We are into da same things like climbin trees, gettin in trouble and races and look at one of the many bright sides of this…..we will get free and real food!" I said and looked around the room. Shoesie sighed.

"Yeah…..real food would be nice for a change. Dis is da most comfy bed I 'ave eva laid on and it is youse, Racetrack, Jack and all the other guy newsies who are interested in races. Not me," she said rolling off the bed and standing in front of me.

"Right," I said, but all through our conversation, all I could think about was Jack and I thought "I wonder what 'e is doing right at dis very moment."

**Chapter 4-A Month Later**

We jumped out of the carriage and got our stuff out. Dani followed me helping us along and Jase jumped out after us. "I am so glad you guys could come….say hi to Jack for me Dani and say hi to your boyfriend too Shoesie. Tell him that Dani's twin says hi," Dani said giving each of us a good long hug. I laughed and we stood in front of Dani.

"Will do," I answered, "it was good ta see youse an' we'll come back an' visit soon. We promise. Good to see ya."

"Dido," Dani said. I walked over to Jase. I hugged him for awhile and then spoke.

"Take care of youse's sista and Mackenzie. Say hi to 'er for me and I will see ya lata. Luv ya," I said and gave him another hug. He smiled.

"Ok. I will and I can't wait until I see you again. We can cause some more trouble and hang out. Come and visit me sometime….I live 3 hours sout from Manhattan. I would even pay for the train. Please come sometime…I beg you. I love you," he said. I gave him a high five.

"Will do…..just holler and I will be dare," I said and then waved goodbye as I walked over to Shoesie. We got on the train that would take us all the way back to Manhattan. I looked out the window.

"Did youse like dis experience? I mean….did youse like livin like dat again?" I asked Shoesie anxious to hear what she thought of my cousin.

"Do youse mean da gettin in trouble part? Yeah, it was fun. I love youse cousin. She was so nice, and Jase was cool too even though he did get us in trouble. It was so much fun to hang out with them, but I am glad we are goin home. I month is too long ta be away from 'ome," Shoesie said looking at me.

"Amen," I said looking out the window and thinking of Jack. We started to move and I waved farewell to my cousins one last time. I looked at Shoesie and she looked back. "Starting to get homesick?" I asked looking at her.

"More like Spottie sick," she said. I laughed for a little while.

"Yeah….I have that too only it is called Jackyboy sick," Shoesie laughed and we once again looked out the window. "Three hours until I see my Jacky again," I whispered and watched the trees go by. "Can we go and see Jack first?" I asked Shoesie while I put on my begging face.

"Sure. We will be closer to Manhattan anyway and who knows….maybe Spot will be visitin Jack today," Shoesie said.

"Yeah and if he isn't, we can go to Brooklyn. I love goin ova da Brooklyn Bridge," I said.

"Amen," Shoesie said and I laughed.

"Dat is just because youse know youse's boyfriend is on da odder side of it," I said and looked at Shoesie. She pundered this for a little while and then said,

"True." I laughed again and we both went back to thinking about our boys while we laughed. It was hard not to if you haven't seen them in a month. That is too long and I was glad I was finally going home to see my boy…..the other part of my "family."

**Chapter 5-Broken Hearts**

We got off the train and the first thing we did was go to the lodging home. There we found Kloppman reading a pape and drinking something (probably coffee). He looked at us and smiled. "Welcome back girls. We missed ya," he said. "I am sure Jack will be happy to see ya Chancey and Shoesie…..same for youse wit Spot."

"We missed our home too. Where is everybody?" I asked.

"I think they went to the square or the distribution office. Something havin to do with the strike they are in and I think most of them will be there if any," Kloppman answered. Me and Shoesie exchanged looks because we had no idea what had happened while we were gone and we were going to find out what. "Obviously it was something big is almost all the newsies are involved and a strike! That sounds interesting. I want to see," I thought as Shoesie talked to Kloppman.

"Thanks," she said. We went up to the bunks and put our stuff on the beds. We started to put our stuff away and we put our bags under our beds where we all kept our bags. We put the few pairs of clothes we had were they were suppose to go and then I put on more comfortable shoes I had (my regular shoes to be exact….I had some of Shoesie's shoes on and they weren't too comfortable at all). We decided we should go and find Jack and Spot after we were done making our spots livable again. I put on my hat and so did Shoesie. I went over to the mirror and adjusted it. Shoesie followed me. We didn't take our hats to Boston because we didn't want to lose them and plus, Jack said he wanted mine on my bed to remember me (ooohhh Jack) and I don't known why Shoesie left hers. Probably because I didn't take mine.

We walked out of the lodging home and waved goodbye to Kloppman. He waved back and we started to walk towards the papes place. We decided that if the gates were still open and if there were still papes left, we would sell a few papes in the process of finding Jack and then we would go see Spot. Our minds were made up. Every street we passed I looked down so I wouldn't miss Jack.

We were laughing and telling each other jokes when we got to the gates of the papes place. They were wide open and it was about midday. "That's weird," I thought and walked closer, "maybe we will get some papes after all." I was looking around for awhile when I stopped dead in my tracks. I gasped. I rubbed my eyes and opened them again, but I wasn't dreaming. It was really happening. "it couldn't be," I thought, but it was. My worst nightmare was happening to me and I just stood there astonished. Jack kissing a different girl. I wasn't laughing anymore as I saw the disgusting scene take place right in front of my eyes. In fact nothing anyone could say would make me laugh with me seeing what I saw right in front of me. No one would ever make me laugh again. I would never smile again. I would never let myself forget this. I hoped I would never see this scene again. I hoped I would never see that girl again. I hoped a lot of things. I wished I would have never trusted Jack in the first place.

**Chapter 6-Betrayer **

I just stood there watching them kiss and it suddenly occurred to me that Jack didn't want me anymore. No one wanted me anymore. "I lost my Jackyboy" I thought and sobbed. I started to run away and I know Jack saw me because as soon as I started to run, he came running after me. Shoesie had seen this and tried to block him from me, but it didn't work. He ran up to her and stood in front of her. "Hey…welcome back me goil," he said with a smile leaning in to kiss me on the cheek.

"Oh shut up Jack. I saw youse kiss dat odder goil in dare. I know youse don't wants me anymore," I said and for once in my life I gave him the look of pure evil. It felt a little weird at first, but I got used to it fast enough.

"Wat are youse talkin bout Chance?" he asked looking at me confused and stood up straight. I looked up at him as a tear rolled down my cheek and fell to the ground.

"Oh don't even try to play dumb Jack. I thought youse loved me, but I know I saw youse kiss dat goil and dat means I'm not youse's goil anymore," he tried to stop me from running off, but he couldn't. I ran into an alley and sat down crying my eyes out. Jack just stood there starting to cry too. Shoesie walked over to him.

"How could youse do dis to 'er?" she asked as she slapped him across the face while looking at Jack ashamed.

"She kissed me!" he yelled and looked at Shoesie to see is she would believe him, but he knew she wouldn't. He felt his face to make sure he wasn't bleeding and then put his hand back at his side like it was before.

"Whateva Jack. Tell it to some one who cares. As of right now….youse don't exist to me or Chance so good riddance," Shoesie said and ran into the alley that I went into. She came beside me and held me in her arms. Jack just stood there sobbing trying to hold back the tears. He never thought the day would come when he had a fight with his girl and now that it had come….he wasn't sure it would ever come back because he wasn't sure he would ever have his girl again. He put his hand on his face.

"Ow!"

**Chapter 7-The Decision**

I cried in Shoesie's arms for at least 2 hours and she decided to try and cheer me up. "Come on," she said, "we still 'ave a loyal friend in Brooklyn dat we can live wit. We can start sellin again if youse want to. He'll take us in wit open arms. We can even play poka dare too. He took me once. Da guys aren't as hard as Racetrack is. Trust me," I looked at her and smiled a very weak smile.

"Ok….I could do dat," I said and she stood up. She helped me up and we started to walk to Brooklyn together. We were almost to the Brooklyn Bridge when I saw something I wished I would never see. I saw my Jack talking to the girl again and this time she was smiling a huge smile. When he saw me looking at them, he froze. I started to walk away towards the bridge doing my fast walk and Shoesie just stood there looking at me then at Jack and then back at me.

"Wait Chancey wait," he said. He was just about up to me and I turned around and punched him in the mouth as hard as I could.

"I can't believe youse Jack. I was afraid me friend Shoesie was goin to betray me again, but I guess I was expectin it from da wrong person. I can't believe I let youse play me. I can't believe youse would play me. I thought youse liked me. I'm such an idiot," I said and started to walk away crying.

"Youse don't understand Chance," Jack said starting to walk after me. I turned around.

"I think I do understand. And what I understand is dat we are through. Go find youseself a new goil or I think youse have already been around and found one so go cry to her," I started to walk away and this time Jack didn't follow me. He just stood there with his mouth open. He felt the blood stream down his chin from his mouth and sighed. Shoesie followed me as I walked. Jack grabbed her arm when she past him.

"Wat do youse want?" she asked looking at him with the look of death fixed on her face.

"Come on Shoesie. I believed youse when youse said youse didn't try and hurt Chancey. Now if youse turn to believe me. Come on. I love Chancey and youse know it. Why can't youse believe she did it to me!" he asked looking at me. I had stopped on the Brooklyn Bridge and watched them. Shoesie looked at me.

"I believe youse Jack because I know youse would neva do anything to hurt me best friend. I knew dat when I came back from Brooklyn an' I know dat now. I don't know if I can help, but if I can let me know," she said looking at him with a worried look. He gave her a grin of gratitude.

"Thanks," he said and let go of her arm.

"No prob," she said. She walked over to me. We started to go over the Brooklyn Bridge heading for the place we pretty much knew Spot would be…..the river view.

**Chapter 8-Brooklyn **

Me and Shoesie walked across the docks and saw all the newsies having a party. Most of the newsies were diving into the water. Some were smoking cigars and laughing while telling jokes. And some, like Spot, were just laughing at the jokes enjoying every second of it. When he saw us, he ran over to us and swept Shoesie off her feet. He kissed her on the cheek and she laughed. "I missed youse," he said and put her down. "Have youse seen Jack already?" I looked up and once again started sobbing. "Wat 'appened?" Spot asked looking at me confused. "Why would she start crying when I said Jack?" he wondered at he waited for me to reply.

"She saw Jack kissin anoder goil," Shoesie said. I just sobbed some more.

"I'm sorry," Spot said looking confused, "I neva thought he would do somethin like dat to youse."

"He did dough and we was wonderin if we could live 'ere for awhile. Youse know…until we go back to Manhattan or if we don't go back to Manhattan," Shoesie asked and looked at Spot. He pondered this for a little while and then looked at us.

"Yeah sure of course. Dare aren't many goil newsies 'ere and I could always use da extra company," he said. We started to walk towards the lodging home and I smiled.

"Thanks Spot," I said.

"No prob," he answered and flashed his amazing grin. I smiled back and stopped crying which was really weird because I thought I never would.

We walked into the lodging home and me and Shoesie paid our fines to live there. Then, we went up the stairs and up to the bunk room. There were probably more bunks than in Manhattan and way more room. There was a big table in about the center of the room and all kinds of newsies were playing games like poker and black jack. We walked over and started playing. Spot introduced us to some of the newsies we didn't know like Copper(17), Dodger(16, but she was still as fussy as a 9 year old) and German(19). German had to be the oldest newsie in the lodging home and he was still not as intimidating as Spot when he is mad and Spot was shorter and only 17! He was handsome though so you had to give him that. After a few hands, I was finally getting used to playing the game. I sighed. "I was finally home" I thought as I smiled and played laid cards down on the table.

It was about time to get to bed and me and Shoesie were sharing a bunk. I looked at this boy with a strange grin on his face that had apparently been staring at me for awhile. He walked over to our bunk. "'Ello. Me name is Todd and I didn't get the pleasure of meetin ya new goils. Youse are Spot's goil and I am happy to meet the both of youses," he said. I looked at him. He had short light brown hair. He was cheery and reminded me of Kid Blink sort of. He had a newsie hat on that just about covered up all his hair. It was black.

"Hi. Me name is Chancey and Spot's goilfriend is Shoesie. We came 'ere from Manhattan……I didn't see youse playin poka or card games," I said and looked at my feet.

"Nice to meet ya both and I'm not much of a card playa. Do youse want to sell wit me tomorrow? I could show youse da best sellin spots in Brooklyn and we could get to know each odder better. Shoesie…..youse could come to. Wat do youse say?" he asked kicking on a great grin and putting some of his hair behind his ear.

"Sellin wit me boy. Sorry," she said and looked at Spot.

"It's fine. And youse?" he asked looking at me. I studied his eyes.

"Ok," I said. He nodded at me and then walked over to his bed. I watched him for awhile and then went back to getting ready for bed. I felt is eyes on me again, but this time I didn't look at him. This time I just chuckled to myself.

**Chapter 9-A Broken Heart and a Beating**

The next day I was feeling much better. I went to their papes place and got 100 papes and sold them all very fast thanks to Todd. He helped me find real good selling spots. When we were done, Todd had to go do something with one of the other newsies. He was going to meet me later. I decided I would try and find Spot and Shoesie. When I saw them, I stopped right where I was because Jack was right in front of them. He was talking and both Spot and Shoesie were nodding like they agreed with him. I couldn't believe it. Shoesie believed him. I couldn't believe him. He lied to me and led me on. No, I could never believe him again. I was a Brooklyn newsie now. No I couldn't go back. Not ever again.

I started to walk away in the other direction. I wondered across the Brooklyn Bridge a little and sat on a bench on the side. I put my head in my hands and started to cry. "Well, would you look what we got 'ere," I shot my head up for I knew that voice. Standing right in front of me was the Delancey Brothers smiling down at me. They looked more angry than usual. "Must have something to do with this strike thing," I thought to myself and sniffed back the tears that came down my face. I wiped of my face and stopped crying.

"Wat do youse wat? Why are youse 'ere?" I asked them in a snobby way.

"We wanted to get Jack back for gettin us fired so we followed him over the bridge. We decided that youse are going to pay instead of him because he is with Spot. Not the best combination. Come on!" I looked at them confused after Oscar spoke and he nodded to Morris. They grabbed me by the arms and started walking me towards an alley near the end of the bridge. I didn't know what they were doing this to me for, but I knew they were going to beat me.

I started to cry again and when I stepped into the alley, I was beat to the ground. Kicked in the shins, punched in the stomach and face all at the same time! Very painful. I fell to the ground and that was not going to do for them. They picked me up again and once again did the same thing except they didn't kick me at all thankfully and once again I fell to the ground weeping. I knew they were going to do it again, because they were still laughing. Then the laughing stopped. No hands grabbed me. I thought that was very strange and when I looked up, there was Jack fighting them off and once they were gone he came over to me. He had his cowboy hat, and he fixed his bandana and stopped walking standing very close to where I was on the ground. He helped me up and I just mumbled a thanks. He had his eyes fixed on me, making sure he had my attention.

**Chapter 10-The Hidden Truth**

I didn't make eye contact with him….I just looked at the ground. I saw blood spots on my pants and just sobbed some and then stopped because I remembered Jack was right in front of me. "Don't lose your pride," I told myself. "I 'ave been tryin to tell da real story to youse, but youse 'ave never givin me a chance. Dis isn't wat youse think," I put my hand on my head and looked at him once again with the look of death fixed on him.

"Wat is it then?" I asked holding my stomach instead of my head now. My mouth was bleeding and I could taste the blood in my mouth, but I just listened to what Jack had to say. I could barely stand up and Jack noticed this. He helped me sit back down against the wall and then he sat beside me.

"Dat goil's name is Sarah and she is Davey's sista and I will explain who David is some odder time. I liked 'er as a friend and nothin more. Afta we won the strike…and by the way….i will explain that lata, I knew she loved me and once I was near enough to 'er, she kissed me. Obviously youse didn't see enough of dat to know dat a slapped her in da face and told 'er I neva wanted to see 'er face again. She came back to me da odder day lookin for anodder kiss because she thought we weren't ova….dat I still loved 'er. I said no and dat is when youse saw us. Please forgive me for…."

"No," I interrupted him, "please forgive me for bein an idiot as usual. I should 'ave known youse would neva done somethin like dat to me." He gave me his award winning grin and reached out his hand. I took it and he slid me closer to him. We got up and I looked at him and he looked back at me. He put his cowboy hat down. I kissed him. He kissed me back.

**Chapter 11-Forgivin Love**

We walked out of the alley and over to Spot and Shoesie were hanging out by the docks. "A total mistake?" Shoesie asked me as we walked up to them. She had a big smile on her face. It was like she could read my mind.

"A total mistake," I answered and kissed Jack on the cheek. His eyebrows went up and I just rolled my eyes and gave him a hug.

"I'm glad," Shoesie said and her smile got even bigger. She winked at Jack and he winked back at her. He took off his grin and went back to his normal face and we kept on talking.

"I am too," I said.

"Me too," Spot said and hugged me and Shoesie at the same time.

"And I am glad I 'ave me goil back. I don't know wat I would do witout 'er," Jack said and looked at me.

"Me eitha….I mean youse barely can get out of bed witout me," I said and laughed. The others laughed too and we started to walk. I hugged Jack with all my might and that is when I spotted Todd. He was watching us from over by the docks and I let go of Jack. I told them to stay there and I walked over to Todd. He just looked down and I raised his head. "Hey. I guess I forgot to tell youse I had a boyfriend," he looked back down at the ground as I spoke.

"Yeah. Youse missed dat tiny detail," Todd mumbled still looking down.

"The reason we even came to Brooklyn was because I was mad at me boy, but I'm not anymore. I would really like to still be friends. Can youse bare dat? I know I sure could. Please?" I asked hoping that he would say yes. He looked up.

"How could I say no?" he asked. I smiled and he got up from the barrel he was sitting on. He walked beside me and we went up to Jack,

"Jack…..dis is me friend Todd," I said and introduced them.

"Nice to meet youse," Todd said.

"Dido," Jack said.

"And now I have a question for youse Todd," I said. He looked at me. "Would youse like to live in Manhattan wit us in our lodgin home? I could show youse da ropes like youse did for me and it would be fun." Todd looked at Spot and he was giving him the face of "do it. Youse will like dem."

"Sure," he said. Me and Jack smiled. All 5 of us started walking towards Manhattan together.

**Chapter 12- The Race **

We were almost to the Brooklyn Bridge and Jack stepped in front of me. I stopped walking and waited for what he was going to say. "Race ya to da end of da bridge?" he asked. I looked at him and smiled and then looked at Todd.

"A race is wat we always do. Call it bondin time so youse don't 'ave to do it if youse don't want ta do it. It is fun dough," I said explaining our weird ways of thinking. I smiled a dorky grin and waited for Todd's answer.

"Oh….I could use a challenge," I looked at him confused and he started running. I ran after him and Jack followed.

"Wat goofs," Spot said and looked at Shoesie.

"Day are our goofs dough and we betta catch up to dem before we get left behind…..we would neva find them again," she said.

"Youse's are right as usual," Spot said and giggled. They started to jog after us across the Brooklyn Bridge. When we got to the end, Todd was waiting for us on the other side.

"I guess we 'ave a new challenge Jack," I said. I took a big breath and leaned over. He looked at me and then at Todd.

"Youse are right as usual Chance," he said and grinned at Todd.

"I 'ave a challenge now too, but not a very good one," he started to laugh and we looked at him. He started to run away from us and we ran after him all over Manhattan until the dark swallowed up the streets. We stopped then and went to the lodging home. We introduced everyone to Todd and we played some games. Shoesie arrived at the lodging home about 15 minutes later than us because she had to say goodbye to Spot and she started to play cards to. I never thought I would end up being back in my original home, but I was sure glad I was there.

Todd got more into card games once he moved to Manhattan. He said that it was easier than at Brooklyn. He became great friends with Kid Blink and Racetrack after awhile and most of his time was spent with Racetrack at the Racetracks. So I guess you could say things turned out great. I couldn't have asked for a better life.


End file.
